MI5 foils hitman's plot to assassinate Russian tycoon in London hotel

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Russia sent an assassin to Britian to execute the exiled billionaire Boris Berezovsky, it was claimed yesterday.

The extraordinary plot, said to have been foiled by Scotland Yard and the security services, yesterday plunged the diplomatic crisis between London and Moscow to a new low.

After a week-long surveillance operation in London, a man was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder, questioned and thrown out of the country.

The hitman, who used a child as part of his 'cover', is said to have been held at London's Park Lane Hilton Hotel, where he is alleged to have been preparing to shoot the 61-year-old Russian oligarch in the head.

Mr Berezovsky, who was exiled in London after criticising the policies of Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, claimed he was advised by Scotland Yard to leave the country while investigations took place.

He and other Russian exiles in UK were under constant threat of assassinations sponsored by Moscow, Mr Berezovsky alleged.

Disclosure of the apparent plot could not come at a more sensitive time for the strained relationship between London and Moscow.

This week, Britain expelled four Russian diplomats following Russia's refusal to hand over Andrei Lugovoy, the suspected killer of dissident Alexander Litvinenko.

Russia says it is planning a 'targeted and appropriate' response to the expulsions and will decide in the next few days whether it will expel up to 80 members of the UK embassy staff in Moscow.

Observers questioned the timing of the leak about the 'le Carre-like plot'. They suggested it was designed to further strain relations between the countries.

Officially, British authorities declined to comment on the latest allegation. But a Whitehall source said: 'Boris Berezovsky is a highprofile critic of the Russian government. Our experience is that the Russians are prepared to take action against their critics.'

When Foreign Secretary David Miliband announced that four diplomats would be expelled, he referred pointedly to 'the UK Government having a wider duty to ensure the safety of the large Russian community living in the UK'.

The plot to kill Mr Berezovsky is said to have been foiled by the arrest of a man at the Hilton on June 21. He is said to have been questioned about a plan to shoot Mr Berezovsky in the head at close range during a meeting at the hotel.

It is understood that a surveillance operation on a man entering Britain through Heathrow was triggered after previous intelligence about his possible intentions.

He was tailed for a week and the surveillance is said to have 'confirmed the intelligence' that the man posed a threat to a leading Russian living in exile.

He was detained on suspicion of conspiracy to murder, questioned and then handed over to the Immigration Service where his visa was revoked. He was informed he could not apply to come back to the UK for at least ten years.

Mr Berezovsky said he had received information about the alleged plot from sources within Russia's Security Service. Later, Scotland Yard advised him to leave the country, he added.

He claimed the Russian source told him: "Someone who you know will come to Britain, he will try to connect to you, and when you meet him he will just kill you and not try to hide."

The killer would tell police that the murder was not political but 'just because of business reasons', Mr Berezovsky said.

"And in this case he will get 20 years, he will spend just ten years in jail, he will be released, his family will be paid and so on."

Mr Berezovsky was a friend of Mr Litvinenko, the ex-KGB man poisoned with radioactive element polonium 210 in London.

He had previously intervened in the deadlock over Mr Litvinenko's death by offering to go to a third country for a fair trial to counter Russia's claims that he was involved.

He called on Mr Lugovoy, the prime suspect, to say that he would do the same.

Mr Berezovsky said: "Three weeks ago the police informed me that they were aware that an assassin had been sent from Russia to kill me.

"I was advised by the police to leave the country if I could. I went overseas for a week and then the police informed me that I could return.

"I have been asked by the police not to go into detail about the assassination attempt and therefore I will not do so.

"I have, over the years, received many threats to my life via letter and fax, and in 2002 my local police force advised me that people had been sent to kill me.

"All of these threats bear the hallmarks of Russian security service activity and, of course, President Putin changed the law last year to empower agents to commit murder overseas, following an assassination by Russian agents in Qatar."

Yuri Fedotov, Russia's ambassador to London, insisted that Moscow was not involved in any alleged plot against the tycoon, who Britain has refused to extradite.

However, he said he was not surprised Mr Berezovsky should be targeted.

"I have nothing that could confirm it, but on the other side it does not surprise me. Because Mr Berezovsky takes each and every opportunity - and if there is no opportunity, takes invented opportunity - to expose himself, to make a public figure."

Asked whether the Russian government could be involved, he added: "It is excluded."